MIT open-source disk-space visualizer and cleanup workbench by student dev Prithvi Vinay: TypeScript/Electron/Express 5 with a zero-dependency Canvas frontend (single index.html, no React/D3). Native macOS (arm64 dmg) and Windows (installer + portable exe) builds; Linux via web mode or self-built AppImage. 17 views - squarified treemap, 'Disk City', duplicates, trends/scan-compare, per-profile browser cache, dev junk (node_modules, Rust/Maven target, virtualenvs, build output, each shown with the command that restores it), deleted-but-open 'held-up space' by process, APFS/Btrfs/VSS snapshot recovery, scheduled scans, Autopilot. Trash-only deletes with Undo Vault; read+act MCP endpoint for AI tools; hardware-HEVC 'Shrink video' with verify-then-trash ordering. No telemetry.
Sole human dev Prithvi Vinay (2358 commits, ~17/day); 'claude' account holds 26 commits. 19 releases in 4.5 months and still shipping (v5.2.0, 2026-10-26).
License
MIT
MIT (GitHub API, readme licence section)
Price
Free
Free and open source; readme closes with a 'Found this useful?' star ask, no paid tier
Mechanical checks derived from the fields above. Each row is one fact; "not yet checked" means exactly that, not a failure. There is no composite score; read them together.
Track record
144 days ago
Source published
Not yet checked
Release signing
Not yet checked
Security contact
Not yet checked
Reproducible builds
Not yet checked
Telemetry
Not yet checked
Runs elevated
Not yet checked
Auto-update channel
Not yet checked
Recent activity
Last seen 5 days ago
Research notes
Adoption outlier for the wave: ~1.2k stars, ~3k downloads claimed, 19 releases over 4.5 months of sustained development.
Astroturfed launch: the reddit account was created 2026-06-12, one day after the repo, and its first post that day was a third-person 'stumbled across this project called TreeMap' discovery story on r/GitTech; by August he was posting 'I made a github repo with 670 stars' in first person.
Milestone-marketing burst on 2026-10-29 tested two hooks the same day: a plain '3k downloads' milestone post and a variant pitching 'just because it has an AI MCP'.
Second catalog app with an MCP endpoint (after bytescape).
Depth that contradicts the vibe-coding stereotype: deleted-but-open file detection by holding process with graceful-quite-only policy, OS snapshot recovery (APFS/Btrfs/VSS) with write-beside-never-overwrite, hardware-HEVC re-encode with verify-then-trash ordering, portable no-trace mode.
Scope has grown far past 'visualizer': cleanup, duplicates, app/media libraries, security view, fleet scanning of other machines, scheduler - approaching full-suite territory.
No published Linux desktop build: web mode or self-built AppImage only.
Student dev: GitHub bio 'Student builder shipping real products'; r/chanceme college-admissions post September 2026.
The actual launch - astroturfed. Account created the same day, posts a fake bystander discovery one day after the repo appeared, and even asks 'Has anyone else used this?'.
So I was down a rabbit hole on GitHub last night looking for GrandPerspective alternatives that don't cost money and stumbled across this project called TreeMap. — Intro cliche
the entire frontend is a single index.html with zero dependencies. No React, no D3, nothing. Just raw Canvas 2D. — Virtue
It only ever moves things to your system Trash, never hard deletes. Small thing but I appreciate that it doesn't trust itself with my files. — Trust signal
Has anyone else used this? Curious if there are alternatives worth comparing it to. — Engagement hook
Mid-growth milestone/meta post - first-person ownership by then; kept as the evidence that the third-person astroturf persona was dropped once the app grew.